Foamed glass and ground glass surface or object treating agent, use therefor, and method of making same

ABSTRACT

A ground glass surface or object treating agent, a use therefor, and a method of making the same are provided. The agent comprises at least ground foamed glass, and if in dry form can also include disinfectant powder and/or surfactant powder. If in gel form, the agent can also include water as well as binder, thickener and/or surfactant. The ground glass is virgin glass, recycled glass or a mixture thereof, and preferably has a particle size of no greater than 12 mesh.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to a surface or object treatingagent that includes ground glass, as well as the use for this agent anda method of making such an agent.

[0002] Numerous products are known for treating surfaces and objects, inparticular for polishing or cleaning objects and surfaces as well as forremoving unwanted or undesirable material from such objects andsurfaces. Unfortunately, many of the known products contain toxic orotherwise environmentally unfriendly chemicals. In addition, some ofthese products are expensive to produce, and are not always particularlyeffective.

[0003] It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide anon-toxic economical and effective surface or object treating agent thatis specifically formulated, as well as a method of making the same.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0004] This object, and other objects and advantages of the presentinvention, will appear more clearly from the following specification inconjunction with the accompanying Examples.

[0005] The surface or object treating method of the present invention ischaracterized primarily by the steps of providing an agent thatcomprises at least ground foamed glass, and contacting a surface orobject that is to be treated with the agent and then providing relativemovement between the agent and the surface or object to treat thesurface or object.

[0006] Whereas currently known products contain one type of abrasivewith one grit size, pursuant to the current invention, the round groundglass particles act as a more gentle abrasive while the sharp particlesof ground foamed glass are a more aggressive abrasive. A large number ofcombinations of glass types and grit sizes can produce many veryspecific abrasion levels for many different applications.

[0007] Pursuant to one aspect of the present invention, the agent is adry agent that is a mixture of 1.0 to 99.9% by weight ground foamedglass, 0.0 to 98.9% by weight ground glass, and 0.1 to 10% by weight ofa disinfectant powder and/or a surfactant powder. The disinfectantpowder is an antibacterial substance, and can, for example, be citrusbased, such as the grapefruit seed extract CITRICIDAL. The surfactantis, for example, a coconut oil based soap, such as MACKANATE CM-100F.

[0008] The agent mixture can also include a fragrance, which can be apowder or can be in liquid form. One example of a suitable scent liquidis D-LIMONENE.

[0009] Pursuant to another exemplary specific embodiment of the presentinvention, the surface or object treating agent can be in liquid or gelform. In such a case, the agent can be a mixture of 1.0 to 88.0% byweight ground foamed glass, 0.0 to 87.0% by weight ground glass, 10.0 to90.0% by weight water, along with 2.0 to 10.0% by weight binder, plusoptionally 0.5 to 5.0% by weight thickener and/or 0.5 to 10% by weightsurfactant. An example of a suitable binder could be GERMABEN II, and anexample of a suitable thickener could be CARBOPOL 940 POLYMER, which isa water-soluble resin from the B. F. Goodrich Chemical Company and hasgood gel forming properties. An example of a suitable surfactant for theinventive surface or object treating agent in the form of a gel could besodium hydroxide. The gel agent mixture could additionally include 0.1to 5.0% by weight fragrance and/or color. One example of a suitablefragrance would be lemon fragrance B.S., and examples of suitable colorscould be FD&C Yellow No.5 and D&C Green No. 3.

[0010] The ground foamed glass could be manufactured from virgin glass,recycled glass or a mixture thereof. The ground glass could be a virginglass, recycled glass, or a mixture thereof. In addition, the groundfoamed glass could be a waste product of a foamed glass manufacturingprocess of other products.

[0011] As indicated above, the glass and foamed glass in the inventivesurface or object treating agent is ground. In particular, the glass isground or otherwise converted to small or very small particles in anysuitable manner, for example by means of a ball mill. In thisapplication the term “ground” is used to refer to the conversion ofglass into particles regardless of the process used to produce theparticles. In addition, the glass is ground so that it has a particlesize of no greater than 12 mesh. The presently preferred size range forthe glass particles is 12 to 400 mesh, although the ground glass orfoamed glass could also contain finer powder. To ensure that the agentmixture contains no particles of a size greater than 12 mesh, the groundglass particles, either prior to being mixed with any additionalsubstituents or subsequent to being mixed with other substituents, canbe passed through an appropriate sieve or screen.

[0012] The present invention not only provides a unique method fortreating a surface or an object, but also provides a method of making aunique surface or object treating agent, and also provides the uniquesurface or object treating agent. The surface or object treating agentof the present invention is an effective, non-toxic agent that can beused for industrial as well as domestic applications.

[0013] The surface or object treating agent of the present invention canbe used in several ways. For example, the powder or gel can be placeddirectly on the surface or object that is to be treated, or can beplaced on a sponge or cloth. In the case of the dry agent, the surface(or object) or cloth can be first moistened.

[0014] It should also be noted that for certain applications, it couldbe expedient to additionally add to the ground glass of the agentanother abrasive and/or a suitable chemical such as an aggressivechemical capable of dissolving material on an object or a surface.

[0015] The present invention will now be explained further inconjunction with the following two examples.

EXAMPLE 1

[0016] To make a dry surface or object treating agent the followingsubstituents were provided: WT. % Abrasive 200 mesh recycled glass 90.0Abrasive 60 mesh recycled foamed glass 5.9 Disinfectant PowderCITRICIDAL Grapefruit Seed 0.1 Extract Scent Liquid D-LIMONENE-technicalgrade 1.5 Surfactant powder MACKANATE CM-200F 2.5

[0017] The ground glasses and dry powders were mixed together in a drummixer for 10-15 minutes. The scent liquid was then slowly added andmixing continued for an additional 10-15 minutes.

EXAMPLE 2

[0018] To provide the inventive surface or object treating agent in gelform, the following substituents were provided: WT. % Water 68.6%Recycled glass and ECOMAX 20.0 foamed glass mixture Binder GERMABEN II5.0 Thickener CARBOPOL 940 Polymer 2.5 Surfactant Sodium Hydroxide 2.5Fragrance Lemon Fragrance B. S. 1.0 Color FD&C Yellow No. 5 0.2 D&CGreen No. 3 0.2

[0019] The ground glasses and dry powders were mixed together in apaddle mixer for 10-15 minutes. The liquids were separately mixedtogether. The dry mixture was then slowly added to the liquid and mixedtogether for 10-15 minutes. The final mixture was mixed for 10-15minutes at high speed while being pulled through a fine screen tothoroughly mix in any dry powder lumps.

[0020] The present invention is, of course, in no way restricted to thespecific disclosure of the specification and Examples, but alsoencompasses any modifications within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:
 1. A method of treating a surface or an object, including thesteps of: providing an agent that comprises at least ground foamedglass, and contacting a surface or an object with said agent andproviding relative movement between said agent and said surface orobject to treat said surface or object.
 2. A method according to claim1, wherein said agent is a mixture comprising 1.0 to 99.9% by weightground foamed glass, 0.0 to 98.9% by weight ground glass, and at leastone of a disinfectant powder and surfactant powder.
 3. A methodaccording to claim 2, wherein said mixture also includes a fragrance. 4.A method according to claim 1, wherein said agent is a mixturecomprising 10 to 88.0% by weight ground foamed glass, 0.0 to 87.0% byweight ground glass, 10.0 to 90.0% by weight water, and 2.0 to 10.0% byweight binder.
 5. A method according to claim 4, wherein said mixtureadditionally includes at least one of a thickener, a surfactant,fragrance and color.
 6. A method according to claim 1, wherein saidglass is at least one of virgin and recycled glass.
 7. A methodaccording to claim 1, wherein said ground glass essentially has aparticle size no greater than 12 mesh.
 8. A method of making a surfaceor object treating agent, including the step of: grinding at leastfoamed glass to form glass particles of a size no greater than 12 mesh.9. A method according to claim 8, wherein said glass particles arepassed through a screen.
 10. A method according to claim 8, whichincludes the steps of also providing at least one of a disinfectantpowder and surfactant powder to form a mixture.
 11. A method accordingto claim 10, which includes the steps of additionally adding to saidglass particles mixture a fragrance.
 12. A method according to claim 8,which includes the steps of adding to said glass water and a binder toform a mixture.
 13. A method according to claim 12, wherein said mixtureadditionally includes at least one of a thickener, a surfactant,fragrance and color.
 14. A method according to claim 8, wherein saidglass is at least one of virgin and recycled glass.
 15. A surface orobject treating agent comprising at least ground foamed glass.
 16. Asurface or object treating agent according to claim 15, wherein saidagent further includes at least one of a disinfectant powder andsurfactant powder.
 17. A surface or object treating agent according toclaim 16, wherein said agent also includes a fragrance.
 18. A surface orobject treating agent according to claim 15, wherein said agent furtherincludes water and a binder.
 19. A surface or object treating agentaccording to claim 18, wherein said agent additionally includes at leastone of a thickener, a surfactant, fragrance and color.
 20. A surface orobject treating agent according to claim 15, wherein said glass is atleast one of virgin and recycled glass.